


Once in a Lifetime, You Were Mine

by Ashleyparker2815



Series: There’s a thousand words I could say to you but let me just say three (I love you) [1]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies)
Genre: Angst, Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Crying, Emotional Hurt, Gen, Hurt, Hurt Tony Stark, Parent Tony Stark, Precious Peter Parker, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark Needs a Hug
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-10
Updated: 2020-06-10
Packaged: 2021-03-04 07:13:39
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,178
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24650044
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ashleyparker2815/pseuds/Ashleyparker2815
Summary: It has been four years since the snap. Four years since Tony held his kid in his arms and he just wants Peter back.
Relationships: Peter Parker & Tony Stark
Series: There’s a thousand words I could say to you but let me just say three (I love you) [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1796041
Comments: 12
Kudos: 97





	Once in a Lifetime, You Were Mine

**Author's Note:**

> Ahhhhh! Never in my entire life did I ever think I would write an Iron Dad fic with a major character death warning! Ahhh 
> 
> I was about to go to sleep last night when I randomly got this idea. I’m telling you it was the most random inspiration that I’ve ever gotten and had nothing to do with this fic at all. I was watching a cover from the song I’m Yours and then I started writing this. 
> 
> I hope you guys like it:)

“Why are you filming me?” Peter asked with a grin from where he was squatting down on the boardwalk. 

Tony smiled behind the camera and held it up more so he could see Peter’s smile. “Because I need to get video evidence when you fall in.” 

Peter rolled his eyes at Tony and went back to trying to reach into the water to grab the cool looking rock that he found just sitting on top of another rock in the water. 

“I’m not going to fall in.” Peter stuck his tongue out in concentration and tried to reach for the ball but he was getting pretty close to falling into the dark, murky water. “Almost got it.” 

Tony continued on filming but the smile slowly fell from his face. He didn’t want Peter falling in since that would be annoying having to get him into dry clothes and the fact that the kid didn’t know how to swim. 

“Okay. Come, Underoos.” Tony walked over to Peter and gently grabbed him by the shoulder. “You don’t need that rock. I can buy you a hundred rocks if you want.” 

Peter groaned and stood up then looked up at Tony with a cheeky grin. He held out his pinky finger between the two, “It’s a deal then.” 

Tony smiled and hooked his baby finger with Peter’s much smaller one. “It’s a deal.” 

Peter let go and ran back towards the grass that they were just on. Tony held his phone up and zoomed in on Peter running then doing a backflip. 

“Wait for me!” Tony called out to Peter. “I don’t move as fast as a hyperactive fifteen year old.” 

Tony finally caught up to Peter who was now lying on the ground in a starfish pose and looking up at the sky. “But Iron Man can.” Peter grinned up at Tony so Tony pushed his face playfully. 

“Get out of here.” Tony joked. 

Peter held a finger up at Tony. “And hey. Almost sixteen. And then you’re gonna teach me how to drive.” 

Tony sat down next to Peter and put his phone back up on their makeshift tripod. Tony looked over at Peter with fondness written all over his face. “I can’t wait, little man.” 

Peter sat up on his knees and pulled his phone out of his pocket to look at their next yoga pose. Tony waited patiently for Peter to choose as he stared at him. He loved Peter so much, even if the kid wasn’t his biologically. 

“Okay…” Peter shoved his phone in Tony’s face. “Let’s do this one next.” 

Tony looked at the yoga pose. He already had Peter standing on his chest practically so why not hold the kid up in the air too. 

They came to the park to have a nice walk but then Peter decided to do the yoga challenge with him. 

It was another one of Peter’s random ideas that Tony went along with because he loved to make Peter happy and would do anything to hear Peter laugh. 

“This looks like a lot of work.” Tony complained but Peter was already standing up and getting into position. 

“It’s not. It’ll be easy. Lift your legs up.” Peter demanded and stood in front of Tony. 

Tony lifted his legs up but paused. “Just don’t jump on me like last time.” 

Peter just laughed and then made Tony put his feet on his stomach so he could jump up. “Grab my hands, Tony.” 

Tony lifted Peter up by his legs on the kids stomach and grabbed onto Peter’s hands to keep him balanced. “You’re lucky you’re light.” 

Peter started laughing but Tony was sure that it wasn’t because of what he said. Peter looked down at him with a huge smile on his face. “I call this… Iron Man pose with the help from Iron Man himself.” 

Peter bursted into a fit of giggles so Tony put him down by leaning to the side so Peter fell onto the ground beside him. Peter held his stomach and was literally rolling on the ground and laughing. 

Tony couldn’t help but join Peter even though he wasn’t entirely sure what the kid was laughing about. It could really be anything with Peter. The kids' laughter was so contagious. 

Peter suddenly stopped laughing and sat up while the occasional aftermath of the giggles hit him. “What was so funny?” Tony asked him. 

“You are. The pose tickled my stomach.” Peter explained and reached over to grab his phone to show Tony the next pose. “Next one! What will it be.” 

Tony sat up and waited to see the picture to see what kind of pain he was going to be put through. Peter turned the phone around to show the next pose. 

It was him lying flat on the ground again with his legs up in the air and holding Peter up by arms while Peter stretched his legs out over him. Tony could already feel the pain before he even started because, believe it or not, the kid was extremely clumsy out of his spandex. 

“Okay. Let’s try this one.” Tony smiled at Peter despite him having to get back into position. Anything to make his boy happy. 

“But you can’t try and tickle me or else I’ll fall on you.” Peter warned with a cheeky grin. Tony reached forward to playfully push him away before he laid down. 

“I don’t try to on purpose.” Tony defended himself. “You’re just super ticklish.” 

Peter didn’t respond, he waited until Tony was in position then he stood over him and put his arms in a T-pose and waited until Tony supported his weight before he lifted his legs up above Tony’s body. 

“We’re doing it!” Peter cheered and tried to look down at Tony but he was concerning too hard to be able to take a glance down. 

“I’m doing all the work, kid.” Tony joked. Although he was doing all the work. Peter just made it look cool. 

The laughing immediately started which caused Peter to become weaker and Tony barely had time to register what was happening before Peter moved his arms and landed right on Tony’s crotch. 

Tony groaned and tried to move away in excruciating pain but Peter wouldn’t get off of him. “... Kid. You just broke me.” 

Peter rolled off of Tony and looked at him. “I did not. You’re just over exaggerating. Who’s being overdramatic now?” 

Tony sat up and took a few breaths until the pain went away. “You still beat me, Pete. You’ll always be the most overdramatic kid I know.” 

Peter rolled his eyes at him. “You don’t know any other kids, Tony.” Peter leaned closer to Tony’s face. “Do you plan on replacing me anytime soon?” 

Tony didn’t even want to think about that. That would never happen. Never. “Never, kid. Never in a million years.” 

“So you’re saying there’s a chance then?” Peter asked, not really joking anymore. 

Tony knew that Peter liked to be reassured a lot and Tony liked to reassure him so win-win. 

“Never in infinity years.” Tony said seriously and Peter smiled at him, his big brown eyes sparkling at him like they held some kind of magic to them. 

“Okay. I like that.” Peter grabbed his phone again and showed Tony the next yoga pose. “This is our next one.” 

Tony faked his annoyance but really he was loving this time he got to spend with his kid. “Another one? I’m never going to have to work out another day in my life now.” 

“It’s just one more pose and yes you will.” Peter made a face and eyed over Tony’s body then scrunched up his face. 

“What is that look for?” Tony asked as he tried not to laugh because his kid was really trying to sass him. Well, he did learn from the best. 

“I’m just saying,” Peter shrugged. “you’ll need to continue on working out after this.” 

Tony grabbed Peter’s arm and tugged him closer to himself so he could attack the kid with a bunch of tickles and pokes to his ribs. “Ahh! S-stop! It-it tickles!” Peter laughed out and squirmed in Tony’s hold. 

Tony continued his tickle attack on Peter. “What? Keep going, you said? If you say so.” 

Peter started laughing even more and tried to move away from Tony but Tony wrapped his leg around Peter’s lower body to stop him from getting away. “Ahh! N-no! Tickles!” 

Tony gave up after that just because he felt bad for Peter now. It was still funny to have Spider-Man helpless and under a tickle attack. “Alright, alright. I’ll stop but just because I feel for you.” 

Peter playfully smacked Tony on the thigh and put his arms above his head. “Let’s do some cloud watching.” 

“I thought we were doing yoga poses?” Tony asked but he was used to Peter’s hyperactive behaviour. He was always going a mile a minute. 

“We are. It’s just time for a break. A cloud break, Tony.” Peter rolled over so he could look at Tony. “Don’t you want to look at clouds with me?” 

Tony laid down to look at the clouds with Peter. “I’d love to look at clouds with you, Pete. I wouldn’t want to be doing anything else.” 

The two of them laid down on the blanket on the grass and looked up at the clouds in comfortable silence. It was nice since Peter was always talking and filling the silence with random words and even though Tony loved hearing his kids voice, it was nice to just enjoy the silence with him. 

He remembers back when Peter was only fourteen and they just met. He would invite Peter over to the tower to work in the lab with him and Peter was talking so much he barely got a word in himself. 

It was weird because that Tony back then found it quite annoying at first just because he wasn’t used to it but after a week or two, Tony found that he missed the kids constant innocent chatter filling his lab so he often called Peter at random times just to hear his voice. 

And now Tony couldn’t get enough of it. It was like this constant pure, innocence presence surrounding him and Tony loved it. 

Peter’s voice and laughter was his absolute favourite sounds in the entire world. 

Although the silence never lasts too long with Peter. 

Peter sat up and pulled out the next yoga pose for them to do. “Break time is over. Time for our next and last yoga pose.” 

Tony sat up with Peter and leaned over to see what he was going to be put through. “This one looks fun.” 

“Yeah,” Peter smiled and reached over to rub a hand over Tony’s back. “it’ll definitely help with your horrible posture.” 

“Hey, you’re the one who walks with a hunchback.” Tony playfully swatted Peter’s hand away from him. 

Peter shook his head. “Mm-mm! I wear a heavy backpack to school and back. What’s your excuse?” 

“My excuse is that I carry a certain spider-baby to bed about four nights out of the seven day week.” Tony secretly loved carrying Peter to bed. It made him feel a little bit more closer to Peter every time he did it and he loved the way Peter curled into his chest even in his sleep. Peter was at his most vulnerable state and Tony loved to hold him close and keep him safe. 

“Whatever.” Peter’s cheeks reddened a bit but Tony knew that he loved being carried to bed just as much as Tony loved to do it. “Get into position.” 

“Yes sir.” Tony joked and sat up straight with his legs out in front of him. He didn’t know how Peter was going to get into the position. 

Peter stood over Tony and bent down to put his hands on Tony’s ankles. “Your butt is in my face.” 

Peter tried to crank his neck to look at Tony. “Stop complaining or I'll fart.” 

Tony bursted out laughing which caused Peter to start laughing which was not good for him about to lift himself up to get into position. “Okay. Okay. Serious time.” Tony tried to say but he was laughing so hard. 

Peter lifted himself into a handstand so Tony grabbed his ankles and bent his arms up but they were face to face with Peter upside down which was not good for the both of them since they started laughing so much. 

“Ahh! All the blood is rushing to my head!” Peter yelled out and tried to shake his head. “My eyes are gonna fall out of my sockets!” 

Tony tried to say something but he was laughing so hard which ended up with him dropping Peter’s ankles and Peter falling onto his lap and leaning against his chest. 

The two of them filled the whole park up with their laughing fit. They were both laughing so hard that their sides were hurting and nothing was coming out of their mouths. 

Peter rolled off of Tony and onto the grass to continue his laughing. Tony managed to get a hold of himself first but when he looked over at Peter and saw that he was still rolling side to side while the giggles were escaping his mouth, Tony couldn’t help but join in too. 

Once the both of them calmed down a bit, Tony laid back down and put a hand on Peter’s stomach. “You crazy kid. You’re laughing like crazy.” 

Peter looked over at Tony and rolled onto his stomach. “Because it was funny. I think all the blood in my body is in my head now.” 

Tony grabbed Peter’s chubby cheeks that still had some baby fat on them and squeezed him. “Yeah. That’s why your head is so big.” 

Peter pushed Tony’s hands away from his face. “Hey, that’s rude. My head wasn’t big that one time your big helmet couldn’t fit me, big head.” 

Tony started laughing again. “Oh kid. What would I do without you.” 

Peter rolled over so he could put his chin on Tony’s chest and look at him. “You’d be so bored.” 

Tony brought his hand up his cup to the back of Peter’s head like one would to a newborn baby. “Yeah. I would be.” And a whole lot of other horrible things. 

He just stared at Peter for a few moments but then Peter was sitting up. “Can we go get ice cream from the ice cream truck in the parking lot?” 

Tony grinned and sat up as well. “Sure thing. Do you want chocolate or vanilla?” 

“Umm… chocolate. But you have to get vanilla so I can have a lick.” Peter grinned at Tony and crawled over to Tony’s phone to turn the video off. “Tony always gives me licks of his ice cream because he can’t resist my puppy dog eyes.” 

Tony stood up and grabbed the blanket then walked over to Peter and combed a hand through his sweaty hair. “And because if I don’t then you’ll fight me for a lick.” 

Peter laughed and looked up at Tony with a huge smile. He turned back to the camera still supporting the huge smile and shrugged. “He’s right. As always. Off to get ice cream now.” 

The tv screen shut off and Tony realized for the first time that his face was soaked with his tears. 

He had gotten used to the constant ache in his chest by now, it just felt normal because it was always there and it never goes away. 

Tony didn’t even bother trying to wipe his tears away because he knew more would come. 

He found himself having moments where he was okay. 

He was okay but then he thought of Peter and what life would be like if he was still here. If Tony could still touch him and run his hands through his curly soft hair or carry him to bed and watch him sleep just because he could. 

It had been four years without his kid. Four years since he’s gotten to hug Peter or laugh with him again. He would give anything for one last chance to hold Peter in his arms and hear his laughter filling up the room. 

It just wasn’t possible. 

Peter was gone. His baby was gone. 

Tony hasn’t moved on. He hasn’t just gotten over Peter’s… death. But he is having longer moments where everything is okay for a bit. That is until he thinks of Peter and how much he misses his boy. 

He just wants another day with him. That’s all he’s asking for but he knows that it’s simply not going to happen no matter how badly he begs the sky for his kid to come back to him. 

Tony looked back up at the tv screen and grabbed the remote so he could pause it on Peter’s bright and beautiful face. He smiled at the sight even though he felt broken inside like Peter took a part of him when he left and the part he took was an important part to be able to function. 

Tony looked into Peter’s chocolate brown eyes that had so much innocence to them. He wished he had more than just memories and videos to remember his kid by. He doesn’t want to even have to remember him. He wants to be able to hold him and kiss his face until Peter pushes him away. 

But that can never happen again. 

Tony heard something banging coming from upstairs so he turns his head over and sees his daughter walking down the stairs. 

He looked back at the tv screen at his first born son and waited until Morgan walked over to him because he doesn’t know if he can talk to Morgan right now without fully breaking down. 

He’s trying to hold himself together. He knew it was what Peter would want but he doesn’t care about what Peter wants right now. What about what he wants? He wants his kid back. 

“Daddy? Why’re you cryin’?” Morgan asked after she climbed up on the couch and looked at Tony. 

Tony shook his head, still looking at the tv screen with Peter smiling back at him. He took a few seconds to answer but he managed to pry his eyes off of Peter and look at Morgan. 

He smiled weakly. “Because I miss Peter.” 

Morgan reached forward to wipe his tears away. “It’s okay, daddy. Peter will come back to you one day.” 

Tony let out a sob but he tried to stop it. He turned back to the tv screen and shook his head sadly. “No, baby. Pete’s gone.” 

Morgan moved closer to him. “But Daddy, I know he’ll come back. ‘Cause if you want Peter back so badly then he’ll come back to you. You just have to go get him.” 

Tony smiled. If only it were that easy. 

Oh, what he would do to bring Peter back to him.

**Author's Note:**

> Omgggg I don’t know if I like the ending that much but I didn’t want to drag it on so yea! 
> 
> Also so in a year when the whole endgame happens, Tony will not do the snap in this universe. Okay? Tony will live and he will take Peter home with him and they will cuddle together all the time. So no Tony doing the snap and no ffh will happen either:) 
> 
> Here’s the yoga poses that Tony and Peter were doing: 
> 
> The first one:
> 
> https://12nnwg2nghg83epqad9q7z11-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Creating-New-Memories-Together.jpg
> 
> The second one: 
> 
> https://www.ryanandalex.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/flying-L-batross-couples-yoga-poses.jpg
> 
> The third one: 
> 
> https://retreatkula.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/HANDSTAND-AND-STAFF-POSE-Adho-Mukha-Vrikshasana-Dandasana.jpg
> 
> Also there was a HUGE thunderstorm last night and it woke me up. I was ready to fight I was like what is going on?! Then the lightening was like a freaking flashlight in my face. It was wild!


End file.
